June 29, 2025 • 52 mins
If you’re walking through a season and you don’t know what to do, open up your Bible and let it be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.
If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr
Scripture References:
2 Timothy 3, verses 16-17
Jeremiah 15, verse 16
Psalm 119, verse 18
Matthew 12, verses 34-35
Joshua 1, verse 8
Hebrews 4, verse 12
Psalm 119, verse 105
Romans 12, verse 2
John 5, verses 39-40
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives your perspective to see God is moving in
your life. Enjoy the message. Come on, everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Listen, Let's clap our hands and thank our Savior today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Come on.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
If you're grateful to God, if God's been good to you,
come on.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
If you can.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Testify of the faithfulness and the goodness, come on, if
you've tasted and you've seen that.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
The Lord he is what, come on, clap and give
him a.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Shout of thanksgiving, give him your highest praise today. Come on, Elevation.
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise
will continually be in my mouth. Go ahead and take
thirty seconds and just clap and thank him. Say thank
you God, Never have you left me, never have you
(01:05):
forsaken me. Hallelujah. I want to pray for some people today.
There's such a spirit and an atmosphere of faith today
and we just want to welcome all the campuses, everybody online.
Come on, clap and welcome everybody, Come on, welcome everybody
in New York City joining us today.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Why don't we pray together?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Why don't we believe for miracles, signs and wonders? Why
don't we believe that our God is the same yesterday, today,
and how long forever? And so if you need a miracle,
good news, you came to the place where we believe
still that God is still moving, God is still healing bodies.
(01:52):
Come on, clap of you believe it. He's still shutting
the mouth of the lion. Anybody believe He's still partner
the Red Sea and making away where there seems to
be no way. So, if you need a miracle today, financially, physically, emotionally,
while you lift a hand to Heaven right now, come
on church, let's pray together.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
We just thank you God. We thank you in advance.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
God. We don't wait for the check to show up.
We don't wait for the doctor's report. We already in advance,
give you the glory and give you the honor for
what you're about to do. We thank you God that
if you can take care of the grass, and if
you can take care of the birds, how much more
can you take care of us? So right now we
(02:34):
confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart,
that you're seated on the throne, that you're sovereign, and.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That you rule. We thank you God.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
By faith we declare that all these things will be
accomplished in the name of Jesus. Come on, clap and
give God a praise today if you believe it. Come
on clap like you believe it today.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Amen and amen.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Just stay standing just for a moment. It's an honor
to be here today. And I'm gonna jump into the
word in just a moment, but while we're standing, I
just want to make sure we take a moment to
honor the pastors of this church for twenty years, have
led so faithfully, so diligently, with so much character, so
(03:23):
much integrity, and I just want to thank Pastor Stephen
and Hally for their leadership because not only have their
lives touched all the campuses and just America, but God
has breathed on these efforts to touch the earth. And
I just want to say thank you to Pastor Stephen
and Holly.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
For your faithfulness. Come on clapping.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Thank God that they keep saying yes to the call
of God on their life, And I just think in
twenty years, In twenty years, all the continual yes is
they've had to walk in and all all the things.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
They've had to say no to.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Pastor Steven ain't had a dessert in twenty years, Hallelujah,
Glory to God. Ain't missed the day in the weight
room in twenty years. But I just can't believe what
God has done in them and through them, and we
honor them. The Bible says to share good things with
those that teach us the word, to be a blessing
(04:25):
to those that are over us, that oversee our life.
And so you know, to translate that today, it really
means send them a Starbucks gift card.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
But come on, clap one more time and thank God
for our pastors.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Pray for your pastors, love.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Them, Thank God for them.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Do me a favor.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Before you sit down, turn and give three people a
church high five next to you. Tell them how good
it is to see them in church today. Tell them
how awesome it is to have them in the House
of God.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Clap for the worship team in every life location.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Clap for everybody leading us in worship, My God, How
good is the worship today. If you have a Bible,
go to two Timothy, chapter three, verse sixteen.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
My name is Chadveach. In Spanish, that's Shad.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Beach, and I'm half Mexican.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Are there any Latins in the house?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
All?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
There we go, And I come from Los Angeles, California,
and I just want to say thank you so much
to the EPHAM because in January, fires broke out in
our city in two main areas, on the west side
and the Palisades and on the east side in Altadena,
and our city was literally on fire for a few days.
(05:48):
And by the time we're able to start our outreach ministry,
fifteen thousand people displaced from homes. And by the time
we're able to start our outreach ministry, I'll tell you
who showed up in force was the EPHAM of Southern California.
And they showed up in their shirts, They showed up
with smiles, they showed up with faith and honor, and
(06:11):
I just I say it is a tribute. It is
a representation of the leadership of this house. So could
we clap for everybody online, If you're in Riverside today,
if you're in Orange County today, thank you for being
a part of helping us serve our city. We love
you and we thank God for you today, and so
thank God. Anybody excited for serve week, coming up, excited
(06:34):
to serve uh and help the city. It's gonna be awesome. Okay,
go there in your Bible. Second Timothy, chapter three, verse sixteen.
I'm gonna jump in. Anybody believe in the Bible today,
All right, We're gonna jump in. Two Timothy three sixteen.
It says, all scripture is given by the inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
(06:59):
instruction in righteousness, so that the man or the woman
of God.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Come on, all the ladies in the house, whoa, whoa, so.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The man or the Woman of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work. Let me read that
same verse. Now, let's go to the NIV, same scripture,
same verse. All scripture is God breathed. Let me just
pause there. All of the Bible is from Heaven. All
of the Bible. I don't know how you grew up.
(07:32):
I'm a pastor's kid, and after church, my dad used
to take us to the Golden Corral. Come on, somebody
ain't nothing like church in Golden Corral, nothing like life change.
And then lunch, and we used to go the Golden Corral.
And I'll tell you what. Dad was too tired to
pay attention to our plates. So we're not putting on
(07:53):
any of the meats or any of the veggies. Were
going straight to the dessert. Who am I preaching to
you right now? I love going to the gold crowd.
When it comes to the Bible, you can't just have
the desserts. Don't just get stuck in Psalms and Proverbs
and the Gospels. You gotta get some of the epistles
in there. You got to have some of the prophets,
(08:13):
major minor prophets. Get you some pentituke in there. All
scripture is God breathed. The Greek there is fail nusas
fail meaning God, Nusus means the breath of God. God
breathed on these pens through different authors and gave us
(08:34):
all of the Bible. Anybody believed, from Genesis to Revelation,
all scriptures straight from God. And it's useful in your life.
Come on, clap like you believe that all authority is
in that word right there.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All scripture is God breathed and.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness,
so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work. I want to preach a message today.
Write down the titles called this is my Bible. This
is my Bible. I'm trying to channel my best Joe
(09:12):
old Sting. This is my Bible. I can do what
is said I could do. I can have what is
said I could have. I'm about to grow a moment
as I say it. Come on, this is my Bible.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Man.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Do you love the Bible today? There's something about the
b I b l e yes, that's the book for me.
I stand alone on the word of God. Look at
all the clap for everybody that grew up in church
and still here. A lot of people left us, but
(09:51):
y'all are still here. I love the Bible. There's something
about the scriptures. There's something about reading the Bible. I
fell in love with the Bible two times in my life.
The first time I fell in love with the Bible
is when I was sixteen years old. When I was sixteen,
I went to an event called Promise Keepers.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Promise Keepers.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Back in the day, men fill in stadiums around America
worshiping God. And I encounter God at Promise Keepers. This
is back in the day when we used to have
tape cassettes. How many y'all remember tape cassettes. If you're younger,
google it. And I'll never forget. Man. When I went
(10:32):
to Promise Keepers, I got rocked by Jesus, and I
came back to my house and they gave us a
little Bible, and they gave us a cassette of worship.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
And I'll never forget. I'd wait for my whole house
to go to bed.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I didn't want them to know us this in love
with God yet, And I wait for my whole house
to go to bed, and I'd kneel beside my bedside,
put my walkman on, and I'd take out my Bible
beside my bedside, and I'd read the Bible and listen
to worship sixteen.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I didn't know what the Bible was saying, but I
just try and circle anything that made sense. So I
started circling the word every time I saw the word,
the that's good the in the beginning, yes, it was
the the second time I fell in love with the
Bible when I was nineteen years old. When I was nineteen,
I was in Bible College and I had long hair.
(11:21):
Don't care like your boy, just trying to get our
brand in lake On. Put us in some tank tops,
let us sing. All right, God did.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
So that was not planned anyways, So I never got nineteen.
And this gentleman, he ended up being my best friend
in Bible Collasus. His dad developed a Bible reading plan,
so he took us one day. We're in Bible College
the beginning of the semester. He took us to Starbucks. Said, boys,
(12:02):
I want to teach you how to read the Bible.
So he took us to Starbucks. He allowed us to
order whatever we wanted, and we sat there and he
taught us how to do a Bible reading plan and
how to choose a verse, and he called it soap scripture, observation,
application and prayer. And he said, every day, boys, I'm
gonna go he's from Hawaii. I'm gonna fly back to
(12:22):
where God lives. And I want you guys to every
day come meet at this Starbucks and I want you
to open up your Bibles and I want you to
read and grab a verse, and I want you to
write down your scripture, put in a little observation, write
a little application, how does it apply to your life?
And finish it with a prayer. And so he taught
us how to do it, and he went home. And
(12:43):
then for about four years, me and this guy, we
would get up every morning at six am. We drive
to Starbucks. For about four years, I ordered every morning.
This is embarrassing. Is before we counted calories. I would
order a grandevid and latte and a scone. You couldn't
pay me to order that today. But we would sit
(13:03):
there together and we'd read the Bible. And I'm telling you,
I fell in love with the Bible. This is my Bible.
I started to read it. I started to memorize it.
I started to understand it. You know, there was a
study that recently came out that said reading the Bible
once a week does nothing in your life. Reading the
(13:27):
Bible two times a week, though, does nothing in your life.
If you read the Bible and expose your eyes to
God's word three times a week, it does nothing in
your life. But the moment you get to four times
a week, God's words starts to do something in your
heart and in your life. Come on, anybody want to
(13:48):
be encountering the love of Jesus, not just once a week,
but anybody believe that you can get a word every
single day from God. I want to give you a
few things to write down today, a few things to
encourage your faith. Write down number one. This is about
God's word. This is God speaking directly to me. Oh,
I love this about the Bible. God speaking directly to me.
(14:11):
Jesus said, my sheep will recognize my voice and a
stranger's voice.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
They will not follow.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
The more I open God's word, I'm telling you, when
I start to understand what his voice sounds like, when
I start to understand how he operates, his character and
his nature, the way he moves. I'm telling you today
God speaks loudest, He speaks clearest and most consistently through
the scriptures. When you open up God's word. If you
(14:40):
want a word from God, good news, He gave you
the Word of God. You don't need somebody on TikTok
to prophily to you. You can open Oh, I'm coming
for somebody. He woke up and shows violence when I
start reading the Bible, God himself starts speaking directly to me,
(15:04):
and I wreck. The more I read it, the more
I recognize that wasn't just a word on paper. That's
a word in season. That's a word for my situation.
That's a word for my circumstance. That's a word for
what I'm going through. That's a word that I needed today.
Today I needed daily bread.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I love that part in the Lord's prayer when he says,
give us our bread, our daily bread. Any bread fans
in the house today. I want to make it clear.
I'm pro gluten. I voted gluten. When I get to Heaven,
I'm eating gluten. But it is God speaking directly to me.
Jeremiah fifteen sixteen. Your words were found, and I ate them,
(15:47):
And your word was to me the joy and the
rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name,
Oh Lord, God of Host.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I'm telling you there's something about when you find God's word.
You want to chew it. You want to marinate in it,
you want to sit in it. You want to just
study it, you want to understand it. Why Because it's
God speaking directly to me. And I want to tell you,
when you read God's word, all of a sudden, you
start to understand. Oh, God's talking to me about my attitude.
(16:17):
God's talking to me about my finances. God's talking to
me about my character. God's talking to me about my future.
God's talking to me about my children. Come on, anybody
thankful today that we don't serve a God that's mute.
We serve a God that speaks. Come on, give him
a praise today. And he's speaking directly to me. And
(16:37):
the more I read God's word, the more I sense
I hear. I train my ear to hear that's God.
It's kind of like you know when you listen to radio,
you can just right away know, Oh, that so and
so singing, that so and so singing.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Pastor Steph was so kind he sent me an early
release of New Thing Coming. He said, I got one
for you, hallylujah. He did, and I'll never forget. I
was in my car driving like this. I was lost
(17:16):
in the sauce, But when Pastor Stephen came on, I
had to hold my steering wheel cause I knew that voice.
I've listened to that voice. I've been trained on that voice. Oh,
I'm thankful today that the more you open God's word,
You're going to recognize that's not a word for them,
that's a word for me. It's God speaking directly to
(17:41):
my heart, directly to my life.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Oh I love Psalm one nineteen, verse eighteen.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in
your law. See, I'm telling you today God's Word is
alive and active. And when I read this book, this
book is not a dead book. This book isn't a
live book. And when I start reading it, God starts speaking, Oh,
we're dropping money up in here. My wife put money
in my Bible yesterday. That's a true story. But God
(18:10):
is speaking directly to my heart. And just look here,
put it on the screen. I love this thought. You
can't see wonderful things about God without God showing you.
This is the only book in the history of the
world where the author himself comes to sit down with
you to teach you what he was trying to say.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
That when you read.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
God's Word, God himself and the Holy Spirit starts trying
to open your eyes to see what's going on in
that story. See, it's not just a story about Noah
and the Ark. It's a story about a man of
God that was set apart, the preparedest life for whatever
would come his way. And God was looking for a
man of righteousness, and so he chose Noah to be
(18:55):
mightily used, even without Noah even asking.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
To be used that way.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
See, God will show you things in the scriptures, from
Noah to Moses, from Abraham to Elijah to the woman
at the well. God will show you marvelous things. And
it's God speaking directly to your heart. I can't tell
you how many times I sat with my Bible, sitting
there with a coffee, no scone, and I'm sitting there
(19:19):
and God starts to download. God starts to help me.
God starts to speak to me. Anybody thankful today that
you don't got to get a word from somebody else.
Come on, clap, if you believe it, you can get
a word for you.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And what I find is that we need to stop putting.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Our Bibles on our shelves, start putting God's word in
our heart. Thy word have I hidden in my heart
that I might not sin against thee? You got to
grab the Bible. What did Jeremiah say When I found
your words? I ate them like I was at the
Golden Corral, and they became the delight of my heart
(19:59):
all sudden.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I love reading the Bible.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
It's not religious, it's relationship, it's not labor. It's delightful.
It becomes the delight of my life. Why because when
I meet with God. In fact, when the pastor from
Hawaii taught us how to read the Bible, he says,
I want you to make an appointment with the King
every day. Don't be late, and don't miss it. And
so I started to make an appointment with the King
(20:23):
of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and I started
to sit down so he could.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Speak directly to my life.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Because I knew I was a young man devoid of understanding,
and I knew I needed to grow in wisdom. I
knew I needed to grow in understanding. I knew I
needed to grow in knowledge. Now I knew I needed
to grow in insight. And so I need to sit
down with the Maker. Can you believe that the Maker
of heaven and Earth comes to sit down with you
to teach you what he put.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
In this book?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Come on, anybody believe today the grass may wither, the
flower may fade, but the word of the Lord will
last forever.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's God speaking direct to me. It's God. You don't
know how many times I've went you. See.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
The funny thing about the Bible is you think you're
studying it. It's studying you. It's reading your mail. It's
saying no, don't be anxious. Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God, and the peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding. Regard your heart. God
speaking directly to me. I've got a direct line to heaven.
(21:24):
As I open up the Bible, and so write down
number two today. If it's useful, I should use it
if it's you. Because what did he say here? He said,
all scripture is God breathed and is useful. I love
that word useful. I love that word useful. It's useful.
It's useful, useful, and he starts to list It's useful
(21:45):
for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
It's useful.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I just want to give you a few things that
the Bible is useful for in your life today. Here's
the first thing that's useful for It's useful for content.
I'm just going to use the word content, because I
know we live in the area of content.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
But let me just speak to the parents.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's if you want good things to say to your kids,
start opening up.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
The Bible and let God feel your heart.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
If you want to say good things to your spouse,
any married people here today, we're the married folks. If
you want to say good things to your spouse, open
up God's word. Oh I love this scripture right here.
Put it on the screen. Look here in Matthew. I
love this Matthew twelve. For out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
A good man, out.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things,
and an evil man, out of the evil of his heart,
brings forth evil things. You know what the Bible is saying.
Whatever you put in, that's what's coming. The content you
consume becomes the content you create. So if you put
(22:47):
evil things in your heart, don't you expect for good
things to come out. I'll never forget when I the
first time I fell in love with God's word sixteen
I went to promise keepers. God started to deal with
my music. And God, y'all remember case logic, and they'd
hold all our CDs and I'll never forget. God said,
(23:08):
I want you to get rid of all your CDs.
I said, Lord, are you sure? Say yes, I'm sure.
So I went to this place that had a cliff,
and I took out my big case logic fill with CDs,
and every rapper that started with ice, iced tea, ice,
(23:28):
c any ice, spice, ice, vanilla, any ice had to go.
Any pops one or two had to go small or
Biggie had to go. Damn, they all had to go
cast out outcast had to go.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Why because I.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Knew every single word to every single song. Don't think
for one second that you can turn.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You can learn lyrics, but you can't learn the Bible.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
If you can memorize about Ryah carry, you can memorize
God's word. Clap like you want to store it up.
Clap like you want to eat it up. Clap like
you want to memorize it. Clap like you want a
word in season. I'm hiding God's word. It's the delight
of my heart. What did he say? Out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, So he said,
(24:18):
the good man stores up good things, and an evil
man stores up evil things. If you want good stuff. Oh,
I'll never forget. I was in Biba College and he
was my buddy at the time. He was my best
friend until he married my little sister. Changes a relationship,
change the whole relationship, change the dynamic.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Okay. But we worked at a church in East.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
La in the hood in the body of about look
us for Arrahns And we worked at this.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Church East La.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So we go to Biba College in the morning and
then we drive to the church to work in the afternoon.
And on the way from class to the church, we
had flash cards and we are trying to memorize God's word.
And so one guy would be driving and the other
guy would have the flash cards and we try and
test to see if he's got God's word. So we
sit there and go like Galatians two twenty, I'll be
(25:06):
like I have been crucified with Christ. For it is
no longer I that live, but it's Christ that lives
through me. And the life that I now live I
live by faith in the Son of God, who gave
himself as a ransom for me. Try me again, Isaiah
forty Ooh, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength. They shall rise on the wings of an ego,
they will run or not grow, they will walk in
(25:27):
that enough faith. Try me again, Psalm one, nineteen verse nine. Ooh,
how can a young man cleanse his ways by taking heat?
According to his word? And we started to memorize and
memorize and memorize. And I'm telling you today, when I
go to visit somebody in the hospital, I don't have
to google the scripture when somebody is going through depression,
I don't have to check chat GPT to find out
(25:48):
what God's saying in the situation. Come on, somebody clamp
like you want to hide it and store it and
build a well.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Come on, build a.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Well in your life. Let God's word reside.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Let it shame. It's God speaking directly to me.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Give him a praise today. Content content, Content. By the way,
you gotta be careful because whatever.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
You're around gets on you.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Whatever's on you gets in you, and whatever's in you come.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Out of you.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You gotta be careful the atmosphere of where you walk.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
That's why I was glad.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
When they said, unto me today, let us go into
the house of the Lord, because when I get around
the people of God and I get around the.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Atmosphere of faith.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Oh, come on, that gets on me, and whatever's on
me gets in me, and whatever's in me comes out
of me. Anybody thankful today that I've got feet running
to the righteousness of God. I've got feet running to
the House of God. I've got feet running to the
atmosphere of faith. Whatever you're around gets on you, whatever's
(26:56):
on you gets into you, and whatever's in you comes
out of you. That's why when I was growing up,
we walk in the mall and I see that one
store top of hot I said, uh, no, Surrey, were
not going in there.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I don't know what it is, but we're not going
in there.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Because whatever you're around gets on you, and whatever's on
you gets into you. That's why I love elevation, because
every time you get around, every time we gather every Sunday,
come on, we lift up holy hands. Come on, we
stir up our faith and our expectation. Come on, we say,
if God before us, who can be against us? The
(27:40):
Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength and
the stronghold.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Of my life.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
And whenever I drove up to Starbucks. I wasn't just
around some Starbucks from some coffee from Seattle. I was
opening on my Bible. I was hanging around Jesus, and
Jesus in the atmosphere got on me. But I'm telling you,
God's word got in me, and God's words start to
fall out of my life. When you get God's word
in your heart, it will fall out of your mouth.
(28:10):
You just walk around. You won't have to look up something.
It'll just fall out of your mouth. You know, the
Bible says, well, you know the Bible says, well, you
know the Bible says. I found in life. People are
not interested in what I say. People are interested in
what God says.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Well, you know the Bible says, Well, that's cool. That's
a great opinion.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
But you know the Bible says, and so if it's useful,
we should use it for content. How about number two?
How about for success? Anybody here by short hands, cross
all the campuses. If you would like to be successful
in life, let me see your hand.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You liked, Yes, wouldn't that be awesome?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
If you're a Panther fan, you better really raise both
your hands. You were to pray in the tongue and
the spirit Joshua one A. The Book of the Law
shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate
in it day and night, that you may observe to
do according to all that is written in it, For
(29:08):
then you will make your way prosperous, and then you
will have good success.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I like that good success. This Book of.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
The Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you
shall meditate in it both day and night. So the
Bible says we should meditate on the word of God
both day and night. I'm all for the verse of
the day, and thank God we got the Verse of
the day on your lock screen. But I'm telling you,
when I go to brush my teeth, I don't swipe
one time and think my mouth's clean. When I brush
my teeth, I get them all up in there. We
need more than the Verse of the day to make
(29:38):
it today. This Book of the Law shall not depart
from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it both
day and night, that you may be careful to observe
all that is written in it, and then you will
make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So you know what the scripture is teaching you.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
The more you study this book, the more God will
make you a success. You know, the more you study
God's word, the more God will for your life. Why
because I'm not walking in the wisdom of myself. I'm
walking in the wisdom of God. I'm not leaning on
my own understanding. I'm acknowledging God's understanding. And when I
do that, God, Come on, anybody believe it today. The
steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. God
(30:16):
will lead me, and he will guide me. He will
show me his path. So if I want to be
a success or, I want my children's children to be blessed.
Anybody believing that your children's children are going to be blessed,
anybody believing to be believed to leave a legacy. Let
me say it this way. It ran in your family
until it ran into you. Whoa And you know who
(30:43):
stopped it? The man or the woman that God in
God's word. Because the Bible says whom the son sets free,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
So if I.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Study and marinate, And by the way, meditation is not
a hot yoga idea. Meditation is God's idea. God told
us to meditate on his word. God told us to
get some flash cards. God told us to walk around
our kitchen and declare the word of the Lord. This
book of the Law will not depart from my mouth.
But I will meditate on it both day and night.
I will be careful to observe all that is written
(31:16):
in it. And then I'm going to be prosperous, and
then i will be successful.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Anybody want to be a blessing.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
You cannot be a blessing and tell your blessed.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
So I love God's word.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It gives me content for my reality, for my business,
for my children, for my marriage. It gives me success
right down. The third thing, it shows me my motives.
It deals with my intentions. These are my intentions. You
guys are so unsaved. Thank God you're in church, for
(31:49):
the Word of God is alive and it's active, sharper
than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to the
dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the
thought and the attitudes of the heart. Other translations right
there say exposes us for who you really are. It
(32:10):
exposed and you know what. We live in a culture
of shame and hiding. We don't want anybody to know
what's lurking. All that jealousy, all that greed, all that manipulation,
all that envy, all that stuff that's lurking, all that judas, Judas,
why we give the money? We could have used it
in all that stuff that's lurking. But when you get
(32:30):
into God's word, everything is exposed and God starts to
deal with my motives.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So good news.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
If you've got bad motives like mine, can get off
sometimes just the same. We are all sinners saved by grace.
When I get into God's Word, it corrects my motives,
It aligns my motives. It gets me back to live
for the glory of God, not for the glory of me.
So it deals with my identity. You cannot know who
(32:58):
you are until you know who you are, And my
prayer for you today is strong identity. The more you
read the Bible, the more i'm I'm confident in God.
I can do all things through Who, through Christ. That
(33:22):
strengthens me. So you need some confidence in your life.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
The more you get in that word, the more it's
like I might.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Have weakness, but the power of Christ rests on my life.
And so I'm gonna be bold. The righteous are as
bold as a lion. I'm gonna be bold. Why because
I know who I am. Remember, the devil came to
tempt Jesus three times after he was in a fast
for forty days, and three times he tempted Satan, and
he tempted Jesus.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And every single time he tempted him.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
What did Jesus use to rebuke the temptation? The word
He's In fact, he stood on dude Roonomy six, Deuteronomy six,
and Deuteronomy nine every single time the enemy came to
tempt him. What do they say today, ten toes down
or something? Yeah, ten toes sounds so gangster when I
say it's so fun. He just stood there and said,
(34:17):
you know the Bible says, and then you try to
mess with him again? And what did he mess with him?
Identity motives? If you really are the son of God?
And he said, well, you know the Bible says, well,
the Bible says, why did he stand ten toes? Because
(34:38):
he had put God's word in his heart that he
might not sin against the Father. And I want to
encourage you today. You got to get your motives right.
The word of the Lord is alive and active. It
is sharper than any two edges sword. It pierces the
bone and the marrow. It separates the soul and the spirit,
and it exposes us for who we really are.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
And in other.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Words, not that just the negative, but the positive. I
am the righteousness of God God. I am the head
and not the tale. I am a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a marvelous light. I am more than a
conqueror in Christ Jesus. I am blessed beyond measure. Come on,
clap today if you believe that you're understanding your identity
because you found it.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Come on.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
You didn't find it on social media. You didn't find
it in your bank account. You didn't find it by
what somebody else said about you. I found it by
what God says. Come on, give them a praise today.
I know what God says.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I am.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Stop living for the audience of man, start living for
the audience of one.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I want to know what God says about me.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
So it helps me with content, It helps me with success,
It helps me with motives, it helps me with movement.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Movement. Oh I love this next verse PSNG one nineteen.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a
light unto my path. These are dark days on the earth,
these are dark days in culture, these are dark days
in these patterns.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
But I'm telling you, when.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
I get God's word, all of a sudden, it shows
me what do I do in my home? What do
I do in my marriage? What do I do with
this child? What do I do in this circumstance? What
do you want me to do with my gifting? What
do you want me to do with my money? Anybody
thankful that God's word will illuminate your path. It'll show
you what to do, It'll show you where to go.
Come on, clap a little bit louder and just have faith.
(36:22):
Then it's gonna light up your path. You know, the
Bible actually teaches us that the path of the righteous
shines brighter and brighter. So the more I'm in this thing,
the more it's like I'm not living in the dark.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I'm living in the light.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
And it feels like the more I don't get into
this work, the more I don't study it, the more
I don't read it, the more my life just ebbs
and flows into the darkness. But the more I'm in
this thing. The more it's like God is showing me
what to do and where to go. I'll never forget
where I grew up on a small island in the
state of Washington, and whenever people would come to visit
(37:03):
my family and visit my parents, we would take them
to Fort Casey and we would take them through where
there once was a war. We'd take them through the barracks.
And there was this one barrack that we go through
and there was no light, no electricity.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
It was so dark in there.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
And I'll never forgets kids, we'd love to run through
this darkness just to see if we're gonna make it
out alive. He would see if there was a boogeyman.
We just as kids, we just love to run through it.
And I'll never forget the first time we were trying
to do it and my mom came through with a
flashlight and I was like, Wow, this is crazy. We
(37:39):
didn't know what it looked like in there, we didn't
know what was happening in there. We didn't know any
of the potholes we could have stepped into. But when
that flashlight hit we were safe. And I just want
to encourage somebody today, you walking through a season where
you don't know what to do. I want to encourage
you to open up God's word and let it be
a lamp to your feet and a light unto your path.
(38:03):
I love the Bible write down number three. Not only
is it God speaking to me, not only is it useful,
but one of the things I love about God's word
is it will set me straight.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Man, it will get me right.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
All scriptures God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting,
and training in righteousness.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Let me translate that to you.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
God's word will show you what to do, what not
to do, and what to do what you haven't been.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Doing what you're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
God's word shows me, this is what you should do,
this is what you are not to do. Like if
you're a cowboy fan, hear the word of the Lord,
really you say you love God. God's word will show
you what to do, what not to do, and what
(38:57):
to do when you.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Haven't been doing what you're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
It's it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
I have yet to meet the person that's like.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
One of the things that's really great about me is
I just love being rebuked. It's one of my superpowers.
And I don't know if you've learned this about me,
but I'm just like, ah, correction, it's my favorite. And
like when my spouse corrects me, I'm like oohs you know,
and just like my kids correct me my boss.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Oh when my boss corrects me. Dude, I'm nailing it.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
And I think God knows this about us, so he's like, Okay,
so maybe you don't like them correcting you, so I'll
correct you. So when I open this thing up, listen,
If your Bible's not messed up, your life will be.
When I read this thing. This thing cuts me to
my core. It not a he teaches me, but it
(40:01):
rebukes me and corrects me and trains me. This is
the best school of training you'll ever go through for parenthood,
best thing you need for your marriage. Come on, men
of God, let's be men of the word and get
our lives and our parenting and our marriages right. Come on, clap,
men of God. This right here will train you, rebuke you,
(40:23):
correct you. Otherwise you'll morph into the world's standards. Look
at Romans twelve, verse number two, and do not conform
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that you may prove what is the good
and acceptable and perfect will of God. Don't morph into
what culture says. Don't go by what the world's standards are.
(40:46):
If the world says it's okay, it doesn't mean God
says it's okay. I'm not going by what man says.
I'm going by what God says. I don't care about
their opinion. I care about God's opinion. And every time
I read God's words, it aligns my values, it aligns
my attitude, It aligns my heart to God's will and
(41:07):
God's way and God's truth. I don't care about what
I want. I've got to live for what God wants.
Whenever Julie and I get real real, like you know,
like you ever take a red eye plane and He's
just like.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
And people like you good, yeah, good.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
And if it comes to desperate measures, Julian and I
go to this chiropractor. We don't want to go, but
if it gets bad, we go to the chiropractor and
we're like, well, you gotta help us. This is a
chiropractor right there, like we got you gotta help us.
Out and then he gets us right. Every time I
read God's word, it gets me right. It aligns me
(41:50):
back to say, hey, remember this is not about you.
This is all about Him. Don't bring yours thinking thinking here.
I want you to think like you are blessed and
you are faith and you are loved by God. Come on,
I need you to live, not for your own success,
but I want you to live to build the.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Kingdom of God.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Every time I read the Bible, it aligns me back.
That's why I like to read the Bible in the
morning I wake up in my house. I need I
feel like God speaks loudest before my children are awake.
Once once my children are up, God's voice is silent.
I wake up in my house early, and I make
(42:29):
me a French press and I walk out. I will
do the same thing every morning. I walk out to
my sidewalk and I walk back in. Just getting outside
helps me get my day going. And I make me
a coffee, and I sit at my in my kitchen
counter and I sit there with my coffee in my Bible.
The same thing I learned in nineteen ninety nine is
(42:49):
the same thing that I do today. I don't have
another move. I don't have another option. All I have
is the b I bl e and the every day
I love. And I'm not reading it for y'all. I'm
reading it for me. This man of God needs to
get right, this parent needs to get right, this husband
needs to get right. And I read it. Oh, I've
been reading the same plan since nineteen ninety nine. And
(43:12):
I read it and I find it and you know what,
I've never read it and been like, oh I heard
that one. Oh that was last year. Oh that was
so nineteen ninety nine. No, every time I read it,
something jumps into my heart, something leaps into my spirit.
Because his word is alive, and his word is active
and is training me and is teaching me.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Come on, clap and give him a praise.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Last thing today, write down the last one. God's word
points me straight to Jesus. Oh, I love this about
the Bible. John five, last verse. You study the scriptures
diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
These are the very.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Scriptures that testify about me.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
You refuse to come to me to have life.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
See the problem is most of us, we think that
it's about reading the Bible. Can look spiritual or we
can quote scripture. No, we read the Bible because we
want to know Jesus.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
We read the Bible because we want to know Christ.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
And he said to the religious people, the problem with
y'all is you think that you're so great because you
study the scriptures. But the scriptures are all about me,
and I want to just get our hearts right. As
we study God's word, we don't read it so we
can sound powerful. No knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
And the more I read the Bible, the more I
(44:33):
fall in love. Not with the Bible alone. I fall
in love with Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God.
Come on, the one that was crucified, the one that
died and rose again. Anybody loved Jesus today. So I'm
reading about Joseph, and Joseph and his deliverance he led
(44:58):
his brothers that sold him into a pit, and I'm
understanding that the greater deliverance and the greater forgiveness was
not just Joseph, it was Jesus. And my prayer is
that we would not fall in love with the Bible,
so we can fall in love with the law, but
(45:20):
we fall in love with God's word so we can
know Jesus. Paul the Apostle says, oh, that I might
know him, know him? How can you expect to get
to know Jesus without reading the book that's all about Jesus?
(45:42):
How can you expect to get cleaned with only one
swipe every single day? And I'm grateful that I got
that soap in nineteen ninety nine because every morning since
then try not to miss any appointments with my King.
(46:02):
I've been getting up and soaping because I notice how
quickly I can get dirty. It's kind of like my
kids when I say you need to take a bath.
I'm not dirty dead, I don't need a beth.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Son.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
You've passed dirty. You're disgusting, And a lot of us
are like, I'm good, I'm straight. Come get a word,
live my life, do my thing. When was the last
time you let God speak directly to you? It's the
(46:46):
last time you let God get you straight? When was
the last time God's word was a lamp unto your
feet and a light unto your path? I pray that
you wouldn't just fall in love with the scripture, but
you'd fall in love with the one that the scriptures
are all about.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
His name is Jesus. And I don't know when you're
gonna need God's word.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
I don't know when you're gonna go through a circumstance
when you're gonna need the Bible. But I'm believing that
you're gonna store it up for the right time. We
have a lady in our church this last week was
pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
In March, she let us know.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
That she has stage four cancer that the doctors were
saying was incurable. And she let our church know, and
she let our team know. And every Sunday i'd look down,
I'd see this lady who the doctors say are is
about to die. I'd see her worship better than everybody else.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
I'd see her dance more than anybody else.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
When I was preaching, she would amen better than about
ten people. And she kept just standing on God's word.
God's gonna heal me. God's gonna heal me. I don't
know how the doctors are saying this. I'm in pain,
she say, But I'm standing on God's word. I'm standing
on the verse that my God's a healer. Come on,
(48:10):
anybody believe today that by his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah fifty five. So shall my word be that goes
out from my mouth. It shall not return to me
empty or void, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
(48:30):
I want to show you a picture of my friend Fabiola.
This is at our all church prayer meeting. We're praying
over Fabiola a few weeks ago. We're praying that God
would touch her life. We're praying and we're standing on
God's word. See, when you go through hardship and you
go through trial, You're gonna have to stand on God's word.
Come on, you go through when you go through pain
and tragedy, You're not gonna be able to stand on
(48:52):
a on a tweet. You gotta be able to stand
on God's word. And this Tuesday, she zoomed into our
staff and she said, I want to let you know
and just got back from the doctors, and she held
up a certificate in the zoom and she said, the
doctors want to check on me today and they can't
find any cancer in my body. I've been completely and
(49:13):
totally healed by the grace of God. Come on clapping
like you believe that God is not a man that
he would lie. Come on, clap like you believe that
God is a promised giver and a promise keeper. Come on,
clip like you believe that God is not a man
that he would change his mind. Come on, Lets pray today, Jesus,
(49:36):
We thank you, We praise you today for your grace
and your favor.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
In our life.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
We pray that your word would run through our homes
and run through our lives and our marriages. And we
say out loud, we're gonna be like Jeremiah. We're gonna
find your words, and we're gonna eat them, and we're
gonna marinate on them, and they're gonna become the delight
of our hearts. We pray that as we study your word,
and as we memorize it and hide in our heart, Lord,
that we not just fall in love with the scriptures,
(50:04):
but we'd fall madly in love with you.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
Jesus.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
We have nothing whom have eye. On heaven and and earth,
and on earth. There's none that I desire beside thee.
So Lord, once again, become the premium. Lord, once again,
become the priority. Once again, become the first thing in
my life I'll seek first. The Kingdom of God and
your righteousness.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
Come on, lift a hand to heaven. Lord.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
I pray that we would not be lukewarm, we would
not be cold, but we would be hot. We'd be
zealous for the things of God. And I pray today
we'd open up our Bibles, and we're praying today.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
As we open up your word.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
Show us marvelous things from your word, Show us who
you are, show us how you move. We love you
today and we live for you. Oh, come on, elevation,
Come on, let's worship God. Come on, lift it up,
Come on lifting us. I called you no matter what
(51:01):
I facelie.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
I call you faithful. I just want to fit you.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
Thank you for your savation in your words.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
You pay the price good. I call you faithful and
Dodds Lord, thank.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
You, thank you, Oh, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Your word is that the last egg. She's a word
from you changes every day. Your word, never fast, never
richards for.
Speaker 4 (51:57):
So I call you faithful, Indad just wanna thank you,
just sing that sing call.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
You faithful and doad just wanna.
Speaker 4 (52:08):
One more time seeing sing n cale you faithful and
Doad just wanna thank you. I call you faithful and
that just wanna thank you.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
it gives your perspective to see God is moving in
your life. Enjoy the message. Come on, everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Listen, Let's clap our hands and thank our Savior today.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Come on.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
If you're grateful to God, if God's been good to you,
come on.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
If you can.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Testify of the faithfulness and the goodness, come on, if
you've tasted and you've seen that.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
The Lord he is what, come on, clap and give
him a.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Shout of thanksgiving, give him your highest praise today. Come on, Elevation.
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise
will continually be in my mouth. Go ahead and take
thirty seconds and just clap and thank him. Say thank
you God, Never have you left me, never have you
(01:05):
forsaken me. Hallelujah. I want to pray for some people today.
There's such a spirit and an atmosphere of faith today
and we just want to welcome all the campuses, everybody online.
Come on, clap and welcome everybody, Come on, welcome everybody
in New York City joining us today.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Why don't we pray together?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Why don't we believe for miracles, signs and wonders? Why
don't we believe that our God is the same yesterday, today,
and how long forever? And so if you need a miracle,
good news, you came to the place where we believe
still that God is still moving, God is still healing bodies.
(01:52):
Come on, clap of you believe it. He's still shutting
the mouth of the lion. Anybody believe He's still partner
the Red Sea and making away where there seems to
be no way. So, if you need a miracle today, financially, physically, emotionally,
while you lift a hand to Heaven right now, come
on church, let's pray together.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
We just thank you God. We thank you in advance.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
God. We don't wait for the check to show up.
We don't wait for the doctor's report. We already in advance,
give you the glory and give you the honor for
what you're about to do. We thank you God that
if you can take care of the grass, and if
you can take care of the birds, how much more
can you take care of us? So right now we
(02:34):
confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart,
that you're seated on the throne, that you're sovereign, and.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That you rule. We thank you God.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
By faith we declare that all these things will be
accomplished in the name of Jesus. Come on, clap and
give God a praise today if you believe it. Come
on clap like you believe it today.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Amen and amen.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Just stay standing just for a moment. It's an honor
to be here today. And I'm gonna jump into the
word in just a moment, but while we're standing, I
just want to make sure we take a moment to
honor the pastors of this church for twenty years, have
led so faithfully, so diligently, with so much character, so
(03:23):
much integrity, and I just want to thank Pastor Stephen
and Hally for their leadership because not only have their
lives touched all the campuses and just America, but God
has breathed on these efforts to touch the earth. And
I just want to say thank you to Pastor Stephen
and Holly.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
For your faithfulness. Come on clapping.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Thank God that they keep saying yes to the call
of God on their life, And I just think in
twenty years, In twenty years, all the continual yes is
they've had to walk in and all all the things.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
They've had to say no to.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Pastor Steven ain't had a dessert in twenty years, Hallelujah,
Glory to God. Ain't missed the day in the weight
room in twenty years. But I just can't believe what
God has done in them and through them, and we
honor them. The Bible says to share good things with
those that teach us the word, to be a blessing
(04:25):
to those that are over us, that oversee our life.
And so you know, to translate that today, it really
means send them a Starbucks gift card.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
But come on, clap one more time and thank God
for our pastors.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Pray for your pastors, love.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Them, Thank God for them.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Do me a favor.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Before you sit down, turn and give three people a
church high five next to you. Tell them how good
it is to see them in church today. Tell them
how awesome it is to have them in the House
of God.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Clap for the worship team in every life location.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Clap for everybody leading us in worship, My God, How
good is the worship today. If you have a Bible,
go to two Timothy, chapter three, verse sixteen.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
My name is Chadveach. In Spanish, that's Shad.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Beach, and I'm half Mexican.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Are there any Latins in the house?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
All?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
There we go, And I come from Los Angeles, California,
and I just want to say thank you so much
to the EPHAM because in January, fires broke out in
our city in two main areas, on the west side
and the Palisades and on the east side in Altadena,
and our city was literally on fire for a few days.
(05:48):
And by the time we're able to start our outreach ministry,
fifteen thousand people displaced from homes. And by the time
we're able to start our outreach ministry, I'll tell you
who showed up in force was the EPHAM of Southern California.
And they showed up in their shirts, They showed up
with smiles, they showed up with faith and honor, and
(06:11):
I just I say it is a tribute. It is
a representation of the leadership of this house. So could
we clap for everybody online, If you're in Riverside today,
if you're in Orange County today, thank you for being
a part of helping us serve our city. We love
you and we thank God for you today, and so
thank God. Anybody excited for serve week, coming up, excited
(06:34):
to serve uh and help the city. It's gonna be awesome. Okay,
go there in your Bible. Second Timothy, chapter three, verse sixteen.
I'm gonna jump in. Anybody believe in the Bible today,
All right, We're gonna jump in. Two Timothy three sixteen.
It says, all scripture is given by the inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
(06:59):
instruction in righteousness, so that the man or the woman
of God.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Come on, all the ladies in the house, whoa, whoa, so.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The man or the Woman of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work. Let me read that
same verse. Now, let's go to the NIV, same scripture,
same verse. All scripture is God breathed. Let me just
pause there. All of the Bible is from Heaven. All
of the Bible. I don't know how you grew up.
(07:32):
I'm a pastor's kid, and after church, my dad used
to take us to the Golden Corral. Come on, somebody
ain't nothing like church in Golden Corral, nothing like life change.
And then lunch, and we used to go the Golden Corral.
And I'll tell you what. Dad was too tired to
pay attention to our plates. So we're not putting on
(07:53):
any of the meats or any of the veggies. Were
going straight to the dessert. Who am I preaching to
you right now? I love going to the gold crowd.
When it comes to the Bible, you can't just have
the desserts. Don't just get stuck in Psalms and Proverbs
and the Gospels. You gotta get some of the epistles
in there. You got to have some of the prophets,
(08:13):
major minor prophets. Get you some pentituke in there. All
scripture is God breathed. The Greek there is fail nusas
fail meaning God, Nusus means the breath of God. God
breathed on these pens through different authors and gave us
(08:34):
all of the Bible. Anybody believed, from Genesis to Revelation,
all scriptures straight from God. And it's useful in your life.
Come on, clap like you believe that all authority is
in that word right there.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
All scripture is God breathed and.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness,
so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work. I want to preach a message today.
Write down the titles called this is my Bible. This
is my Bible. I'm trying to channel my best Joe
(09:12):
old Sting. This is my Bible. I can do what
is said I could do. I can have what is
said I could have. I'm about to grow a moment
as I say it. Come on, this is my Bible.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Man.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Do you love the Bible today? There's something about the
b I b l e yes, that's the book for me.
I stand alone on the word of God. Look at
all the clap for everybody that grew up in church
and still here. A lot of people left us, but
(09:51):
y'all are still here. I love the Bible. There's something
about the scriptures. There's something about reading the Bible. I
fell in love with the Bible two times in my life.
The first time I fell in love with the Bible
is when I was sixteen years old. When I was sixteen,
I went to an event called Promise Keepers.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Promise Keepers.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Back in the day, men fill in stadiums around America
worshiping God. And I encounter God at Promise Keepers. This
is back in the day when we used to have
tape cassettes. How many y'all remember tape cassettes. If you're younger,
google it. And I'll never forget. Man. When I went
(10:32):
to Promise Keepers, I got rocked by Jesus, and I
came back to my house and they gave us a
little Bible, and they gave us a cassette of worship.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
And I'll never forget. I'd wait for my whole house
to go to bed.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I didn't want them to know us this in love
with God yet, And I wait for my whole house
to go to bed, and I'd kneel beside my bedside,
put my walkman on, and I'd take out my Bible
beside my bedside, and I'd read the Bible and listen
to worship sixteen.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I didn't know what the Bible was saying, but I
just try and circle anything that made sense. So I
started circling the word every time I saw the word,
the that's good the in the beginning, yes, it was
the the second time I fell in love with the
Bible when I was nineteen years old. When I was nineteen,
I was in Bible College and I had long hair.
(11:21):
Don't care like your boy, just trying to get our
brand in lake On. Put us in some tank tops,
let us sing. All right, God did.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
So that was not planned anyways, So I never got nineteen.
And this gentleman, he ended up being my best friend
in Bible Collasus. His dad developed a Bible reading plan,
so he took us one day. We're in Bible College
the beginning of the semester. He took us to Starbucks. Said, boys,
(12:02):
I want to teach you how to read the Bible.
So he took us to Starbucks. He allowed us to
order whatever we wanted, and we sat there and he
taught us how to do a Bible reading plan and
how to choose a verse, and he called it soap scripture, observation,
application and prayer. And he said, every day, boys, I'm
gonna go he's from Hawaii. I'm gonna fly back to
(12:22):
where God lives. And I want you guys to every
day come meet at this Starbucks and I want you
to open up your Bibles and I want you to
read and grab a verse, and I want you to
write down your scripture, put in a little observation, write
a little application, how does it apply to your life?
And finish it with a prayer. And so he taught
us how to do it, and he went home. And
(12:43):
then for about four years, me and this guy, we
would get up every morning at six am. We drive
to Starbucks. For about four years, I ordered every morning.
This is embarrassing. Is before we counted calories. I would
order a grandevid and latte and a scone. You couldn't
pay me to order that today. But we would sit
(13:03):
there together and we'd read the Bible. And I'm telling you,
I fell in love with the Bible. This is my Bible.
I started to read it. I started to memorize it.
I started to understand it. You know, there was a
study that recently came out that said reading the Bible
once a week does nothing in your life. Reading the
(13:27):
Bible two times a week, though, does nothing in your life.
If you read the Bible and expose your eyes to
God's word three times a week, it does nothing in
your life. But the moment you get to four times
a week, God's words starts to do something in your
heart and in your life. Come on, anybody want to
(13:48):
be encountering the love of Jesus, not just once a week,
but anybody believe that you can get a word every
single day from God. I want to give you a
few things to write down today, a few things to
encourage your faith. Write down number one. This is about
God's word. This is God speaking directly to me. Oh,
I love this about the Bible. God speaking directly to me.
(14:11):
Jesus said, my sheep will recognize my voice and a
stranger's voice.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
They will not follow.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
The more I open God's word, I'm telling you, when
I start to understand what his voice sounds like, when
I start to understand how he operates, his character and
his nature, the way he moves. I'm telling you today
God speaks loudest, He speaks clearest and most consistently through
the scriptures. When you open up God's word. If you
(14:40):
want a word from God, good news, He gave you
the Word of God. You don't need somebody on TikTok
to prophily to you. You can open Oh, I'm coming
for somebody. He woke up and shows violence when I
start reading the Bible, God himself starts speaking directly to me,
(15:04):
and I wreck. The more I read it, the more
I recognize that wasn't just a word on paper. That's
a word in season. That's a word for my situation.
That's a word for my circumstance. That's a word for
what I'm going through. That's a word that I needed today.
Today I needed daily bread.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I love that part in the Lord's prayer when he says,
give us our bread, our daily bread. Any bread fans
in the house today. I want to make it clear.
I'm pro gluten. I voted gluten. When I get to Heaven,
I'm eating gluten. But it is God speaking directly to me.
Jeremiah fifteen sixteen. Your words were found, and I ate them,
(15:47):
And your word was to me the joy and the
rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name,
Oh Lord, God of Host.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I'm telling you there's something about when you find God's word.
You want to chew it. You want to marinate in it,
you want to sit in it. You want to just
study it, you want to understand it. Why Because it's
God speaking directly to me. And I want to tell you,
when you read God's word, all of a sudden, you
start to understand. Oh, God's talking to me about my attitude.
(16:17):
God's talking to me about my finances. God's talking to
me about my character. God's talking to me about my future.
God's talking to me about my children. Come on, anybody
thankful today that we don't serve a God that's mute.
We serve a God that speaks. Come on, give him
a praise today. And he's speaking directly to me. And
(16:37):
the more I read God's word, the more I sense
I hear. I train my ear to hear that's God.
It's kind of like you know when you listen to radio,
you can just right away know, Oh, that so and
so singing, that so and so singing.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I'll never forget.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Pastor Steph was so kind he sent me an early
release of New Thing Coming. He said, I got one
for you, hallylujah. He did, and I'll never forget. I
was in my car driving like this. I was lost
(17:16):
in the sauce, But when Pastor Stephen came on, I
had to hold my steering wheel cause I knew that voice.
I've listened to that voice. I've been trained on that voice. Oh,
I'm thankful today that the more you open God's word,
You're going to recognize that's not a word for them,
that's a word for me. It's God speaking directly to
(17:41):
my heart, directly to my life.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Oh I love Psalm one nineteen, verse eighteen.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in
your law. See, I'm telling you today God's Word is
alive and active. And when I read this book, this
book is not a dead book. This book isn't a
live book. And when I start reading it, God starts speaking, Oh,
we're dropping money up in here. My wife put money
in my Bible yesterday. That's a true story. But God
(18:10):
is speaking directly to my heart. And just look here,
put it on the screen. I love this thought. You
can't see wonderful things about God without God showing you.
This is the only book in the history of the
world where the author himself comes to sit down with
you to teach you what he was trying to say.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
That when you read.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
God's Word, God himself and the Holy Spirit starts trying
to open your eyes to see what's going on in
that story. See, it's not just a story about Noah
and the Ark. It's a story about a man of
God that was set apart, the preparedest life for whatever
would come his way. And God was looking for a
man of righteousness, and so he chose Noah to be
(18:55):
mightily used, even without Noah even asking.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
To be used that way.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
See, God will show you things in the scriptures, from
Noah to Moses, from Abraham to Elijah to the woman
at the well. God will show you marvelous things. And
it's God speaking directly to your heart. I can't tell
you how many times I sat with my Bible, sitting
there with a coffee, no scone, and I'm sitting there
(19:19):
and God starts to download. God starts to help me.
God starts to speak to me. Anybody thankful today that
you don't got to get a word from somebody else.
Come on, clap, if you believe it, you can get
a word for you.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And what I find is that we need to stop putting.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Our Bibles on our shelves, start putting God's word in
our heart. Thy word have I hidden in my heart
that I might not sin against thee? You got to
grab the Bible. What did Jeremiah say When I found
your words? I ate them like I was at the
Golden Corral, and they became the delight of my heart
(19:59):
all sudden.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I love reading the Bible.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
It's not religious, it's relationship, it's not labor. It's delightful.
It becomes the delight of my life. Why because when
I meet with God. In fact, when the pastor from
Hawaii taught us how to read the Bible, he says,
I want you to make an appointment with the King
every day. Don't be late, and don't miss it. And
so I started to make an appointment with the King
(20:23):
of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and I started
to sit down so he could.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Speak directly to my life.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Because I knew I was a young man devoid of understanding,
and I knew I needed to grow in wisdom. I
knew I needed to grow in understanding. I knew I
needed to grow in knowledge. Now I knew I needed
to grow in insight. And so I need to sit
down with the Maker. Can you believe that the Maker
of heaven and Earth comes to sit down with you
to teach you what he put.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
In this book?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Come on, anybody believe today the grass may wither, the
flower may fade, but the word of the Lord will
last forever.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's God speaking direct to me. It's God. You don't
know how many times I've went you. See.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
The funny thing about the Bible is you think you're
studying it. It's studying you. It's reading your mail. It's
saying no, don't be anxious. Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God, and the peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding. Regard your heart. God
speaking directly to me. I've got a direct line to heaven.
(21:24):
As I open up the Bible, and so write down
number two today. If it's useful, I should use it
if it's you. Because what did he say here? He said,
all scripture is God breathed and is useful. I love
that word useful. I love that word useful. It's useful.
It's useful, useful, and he starts to list It's useful
(21:45):
for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
It's useful.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I just want to give you a few things that
the Bible is useful for in your life today. Here's
the first thing that's useful for It's useful for content.
I'm just going to use the word content, because I
know we live in the area of content.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
But let me just speak to the parents.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's if you want good things to say to your kids,
start opening up.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
The Bible and let God feel your heart.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
If you want to say good things to your spouse,
any married people here today, we're the married folks. If
you want to say good things to your spouse, open
up God's word. Oh I love this scripture right here.
Put it on the screen. Look here in Matthew. I
love this Matthew twelve. For out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
A good man, out.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things,
and an evil man, out of the evil of his heart,
brings forth evil things. You know what the Bible is saying.
Whatever you put in, that's what's coming. The content you
consume becomes the content you create. So if you put
(22:47):
evil things in your heart, don't you expect for good
things to come out. I'll never forget when I the
first time I fell in love with God's word sixteen
I went to promise keepers. God started to deal with
my music. And God, y'all remember case logic, and they'd
hold all our CDs and I'll never forget. God said,
(23:08):
I want you to get rid of all your CDs.
I said, Lord, are you sure? Say yes, I'm sure.
So I went to this place that had a cliff,
and I took out my big case logic fill with CDs,
and every rapper that started with ice, iced tea, ice,
(23:28):
c any ice, spice, ice, vanilla, any ice had to go.
Any pops one or two had to go small or
Biggie had to go. Damn, they all had to go
cast out outcast had to go.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Why because I.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Knew every single word to every single song. Don't think
for one second that you can turn.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You can learn lyrics, but you can't learn the Bible.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
If you can memorize about Ryah carry, you can memorize
God's word. Clap like you want to store it up.
Clap like you want to eat it up. Clap like
you want to memorize it. Clap like you want a
word in season. I'm hiding God's word. It's the delight
of my heart. What did he say? Out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, So he said,
(24:18):
the good man stores up good things, and an evil
man stores up evil things. If you want good stuff. Oh,
I'll never forget. I was in Biba College and he
was my buddy at the time. He was my best
friend until he married my little sister. Changes a relationship,
change the whole relationship, change the dynamic.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Okay. But we worked at a church in East.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
La in the hood in the body of about look
us for Arrahns And we worked at this.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Church East La.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
So we go to Biba College in the morning and
then we drive to the church to work in the afternoon.
And on the way from class to the church, we
had flash cards and we are trying to memorize God's word.
And so one guy would be driving and the other
guy would have the flash cards and we try and
test to see if he's got God's word. So we
sit there and go like Galatians two twenty, I'll be
(25:06):
like I have been crucified with Christ. For it is
no longer I that live, but it's Christ that lives
through me. And the life that I now live I
live by faith in the Son of God, who gave
himself as a ransom for me. Try me again, Isaiah
forty Ooh, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength. They shall rise on the wings of an ego,
they will run or not grow, they will walk in
(25:27):
that enough faith. Try me again, Psalm one, nineteen verse nine. Ooh,
how can a young man cleanse his ways by taking heat?
According to his word? And we started to memorize and
memorize and memorize. And I'm telling you today, when I
go to visit somebody in the hospital, I don't have
to google the scripture when somebody is going through depression,
I don't have to check chat GPT to find out
(25:48):
what God's saying in the situation. Come on, somebody clamp
like you want to hide it and store it and
build a well.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Come on, build a.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Well in your life. Let God's word reside.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Let it shame. It's God speaking directly to me.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Give him a praise today. Content content, Content. By the way,
you gotta be careful because whatever.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
You're around gets on you.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Whatever's on you gets in you, and whatever's in you come.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Out of you.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You gotta be careful the atmosphere of where you walk.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
That's why I was glad.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
When they said, unto me today, let us go into
the house of the Lord, because when I get around
the people of God and I get around the.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Atmosphere of faith.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Oh, come on, that gets on me, and whatever's on
me gets in me, and whatever's in me comes out
of me. Anybody thankful today that I've got feet running
to the righteousness of God. I've got feet running to
the House of God. I've got feet running to the
atmosphere of faith. Whatever you're around gets on you, whatever's
(26:56):
on you gets into you, and whatever's in you comes
out of you. That's why when I was growing up,
we walk in the mall and I see that one
store top of hot I said, uh, no, Surrey, were
not going in there.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I don't know what it is, but we're not going
in there.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Because whatever you're around gets on you, and whatever's on
you gets into you. That's why I love elevation, because
every time you get around, every time we gather every Sunday,
come on, we lift up holy hands. Come on, we
stir up our faith and our expectation. Come on, we say,
if God before us, who can be against us? The
(27:40):
Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength and
the stronghold.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Of my life.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
And whenever I drove up to Starbucks. I wasn't just
around some Starbucks from some coffee from Seattle. I was
opening on my Bible. I was hanging around Jesus, and
Jesus in the atmosphere got on me. But I'm telling you,
God's word got in me, and God's words start to
fall out of my life. When you get God's word
in your heart, it will fall out of your mouth.
(28:10):
You just walk around. You won't have to look up something.
It'll just fall out of your mouth. You know, the
Bible says, well, you know the Bible says, well, you
know the Bible says. I found in life. People are
not interested in what I say. People are interested in
what God says.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Well, you know the Bible says, Well, that's cool. That's
a great opinion.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
But you know the Bible says, and so if it's useful,
we should use it for content. How about number two?
How about for success? Anybody here by short hands, cross
all the campuses. If you would like to be successful
in life, let me see your hand.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You liked, Yes, wouldn't that be awesome?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
If you're a Panther fan, you better really raise both
your hands. You were to pray in the tongue and
the spirit Joshua one A. The Book of the Law
shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate
in it day and night, that you may observe to
do according to all that is written in it, For
(29:08):
then you will make your way prosperous, and then you
will have good success.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I like that good success. This Book of.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
The Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you
shall meditate in it both day and night. So the
Bible says we should meditate on the word of God
both day and night. I'm all for the verse of
the day, and thank God we got the Verse of
the day on your lock screen. But I'm telling you,
when I go to brush my teeth, I don't swipe
one time and think my mouth's clean. When I brush
my teeth, I get them all up in there. We
need more than the Verse of the day to make
(29:38):
it today. This Book of the Law shall not depart
from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it both
day and night, that you may be careful to observe
all that is written in it, and then you will
make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
So you know what the scripture is teaching you.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
The more you study this book, the more God will
make you a success. You know, the more you study
God's word, the more God will for your life. Why
because I'm not walking in the wisdom of myself. I'm
walking in the wisdom of God. I'm not leaning on
my own understanding. I'm acknowledging God's understanding. And when I
do that, God, Come on, anybody believe it today. The
steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. God
(30:16):
will lead me, and he will guide me. He will
show me his path. So if I want to be
a success or, I want my children's children to be blessed.
Anybody believing that your children's children are going to be blessed,
anybody believing to be believed to leave a legacy. Let
me say it this way. It ran in your family
until it ran into you. Whoa And you know who
(30:43):
stopped it? The man or the woman that God in
God's word. Because the Bible says whom the son sets free,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
So if I.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Study and marinate, And by the way, meditation is not
a hot yoga idea. Meditation is God's idea. God told
us to meditate on his word. God told us to
get some flash cards. God told us to walk around
our kitchen and declare the word of the Lord. This
book of the Law will not depart from my mouth.
But I will meditate on it both day and night.
I will be careful to observe all that is written
(31:16):
in it. And then I'm going to be prosperous, and
then i will be successful.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Anybody want to be a blessing.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
You cannot be a blessing and tell your blessed.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
So I love God's word.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It gives me content for my reality, for my business,
for my children, for my marriage. It gives me success
right down. The third thing, it shows me my motives.
It deals with my intentions. These are my intentions. You
guys are so unsaved. Thank God you're in church, for
(31:49):
the Word of God is alive and it's active, sharper
than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to the
dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the
thought and the attitudes of the heart. Other translations right
there say exposes us for who you really are. It
(32:10):
exposed and you know what. We live in a culture
of shame and hiding. We don't want anybody to know
what's lurking. All that jealousy, all that greed, all that manipulation,
all that envy, all that stuff that's lurking, all that judas, Judas,
why we give the money? We could have used it
in all that stuff that's lurking. But when you get
(32:30):
into God's word, everything is exposed and God starts to
deal with my motives.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So good news.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
If you've got bad motives like mine, can get off
sometimes just the same. We are all sinners saved by grace.
When I get into God's Word, it corrects my motives,
It aligns my motives. It gets me back to live
for the glory of God, not for the glory of me.
So it deals with my identity. You cannot know who
(32:58):
you are until you know who you are, And my
prayer for you today is strong identity. The more you
read the Bible, the more i'm I'm confident in God.
I can do all things through Who, through Christ. That
(33:22):
strengthens me. So you need some confidence in your life.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
The more you get in that word, the more it's
like I might.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Have weakness, but the power of Christ rests on my life.
And so I'm gonna be bold. The righteous are as
bold as a lion. I'm gonna be bold. Why because
I know who I am. Remember, the devil came to
tempt Jesus three times after he was in a fast
for forty days, and three times he tempted Satan, and
he tempted Jesus.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And every single time he tempted him.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
What did Jesus use to rebuke the temptation? The word
He's In fact, he stood on dude Roonomy six, Deuteronomy six,
and Deuteronomy nine every single time the enemy came to
tempt him. What do they say today, ten toes down
or something? Yeah, ten toes sounds so gangster when I
say it's so fun. He just stood there and said,
(34:17):
you know the Bible says, and then you try to
mess with him again? And what did he mess with him?
Identity motives? If you really are the son of God?
And he said, well, you know the Bible says, well,
the Bible says, why did he stand ten toes? Because
(34:38):
he had put God's word in his heart that he
might not sin against the Father. And I want to
encourage you today. You got to get your motives right.
The word of the Lord is alive and active. It
is sharper than any two edges sword. It pierces the
bone and the marrow. It separates the soul and the spirit,
and it exposes us for who we really are.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
And in other.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Words, not that just the negative, but the positive. I
am the righteousness of God God. I am the head
and not the tale. I am a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a marvelous light. I am more than a
conqueror in Christ Jesus. I am blessed beyond measure. Come on,
clap today if you believe that you're understanding your identity
because you found it.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Come on.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
You didn't find it on social media. You didn't find
it in your bank account. You didn't find it by
what somebody else said about you. I found it by
what God says. Come on, give them a praise today.
I know what God says.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I am.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Stop living for the audience of man, start living for
the audience of one.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I want to know what God says about me.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
So it helps me with content, It helps me with success,
It helps me with motives, it helps me with movement.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
Movement. Oh I love this next verse PSNG one nineteen.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a
light unto my path. These are dark days on the earth,
these are dark days in culture, these are dark days
in these patterns.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
But I'm telling you, when.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
I get God's word, all of a sudden, it shows
me what do I do in my home? What do
I do in my marriage? What do I do with
this child? What do I do in this circumstance? What
do you want me to do with my gifting? What
do you want me to do with my money? Anybody
thankful that God's word will illuminate your path. It'll show
you what to do, It'll show you where to go.
Come on, clap a little bit louder and just have faith.
(36:22):
Then it's gonna light up your path. You know, the
Bible actually teaches us that the path of the righteous
shines brighter and brighter. So the more I'm in this thing,
the more it's like I'm not living in the dark.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I'm living in the light.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
And it feels like the more I don't get into
this work, the more I don't study it, the more
I don't read it, the more my life just ebbs
and flows into the darkness. But the more I'm in
this thing. The more it's like God is showing me
what to do and where to go. I'll never forget
where I grew up on a small island in the
state of Washington, and whenever people would come to visit
(37:03):
my family and visit my parents, we would take them
to Fort Casey and we would take them through where
there once was a war. We'd take them through the barracks.
And there was this one barrack that we go through
and there was no light, no electricity.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
It was so dark in there.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
And I'll never forgets kids, we'd love to run through
this darkness just to see if we're gonna make it
out alive. He would see if there was a boogeyman.
We just as kids, we just love to run through it.
And I'll never forget the first time we were trying
to do it and my mom came through with a
flashlight and I was like, Wow, this is crazy. We
(37:39):
didn't know what it looked like in there, we didn't
know what was happening in there. We didn't know any
of the potholes we could have stepped into. But when
that flashlight hit we were safe. And I just want
to encourage somebody today, you walking through a season where
you don't know what to do. I want to encourage
you to open up God's word and let it be
a lamp to your feet and a light unto your path.
(38:03):
I love the Bible write down number three. Not only
is it God speaking to me, not only is it useful,
but one of the things I love about God's word
is it will set me straight.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Man, it will get me right.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
All scriptures God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting,
and training in righteousness.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Let me translate that to you.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
God's word will show you what to do, what not
to do, and what to do what you haven't been.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Doing what you're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
God's word shows me, this is what you should do,
this is what you are not to do. Like if
you're a cowboy fan, hear the word of the Lord,
really you say you love God. God's word will show
you what to do, what not to do, and what
(38:57):
to do when you.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Haven't been doing what you're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
It's it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
I have yet to meet the person that's like.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
One of the things that's really great about me is
I just love being rebuked. It's one of my superpowers.
And I don't know if you've learned this about me,
but I'm just like, ah, correction, it's my favorite. And
like when my spouse corrects me, I'm like oohs you know,
and just like my kids correct me my boss.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Oh when my boss corrects me. Dude, I'm nailing it.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
And I think God knows this about us, so he's like, Okay,
so maybe you don't like them correcting you, so I'll
correct you. So when I open this thing up, listen,
If your Bible's not messed up, your life will be.
When I read this thing. This thing cuts me to
my core. It not a he teaches me, but it
(40:01):
rebukes me and corrects me and trains me. This is
the best school of training you'll ever go through for parenthood,
best thing you need for your marriage. Come on, men
of God, let's be men of the word and get
our lives and our parenting and our marriages right. Come on, clap,
men of God. This right here will train you, rebuke you,
(40:23):
correct you. Otherwise you'll morph into the world's standards. Look
at Romans twelve, verse number two, and do not conform
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that you may prove what is the good
and acceptable and perfect will of God. Don't morph into
what culture says. Don't go by what the world's standards are.
(40:46):
If the world says it's okay, it doesn't mean God
says it's okay. I'm not going by what man says.
I'm going by what God says. I don't care about
their opinion. I care about God's opinion. And every time
I read God's words, it aligns my values, it aligns
my attitude, It aligns my heart to God's will and
(41:07):
God's way and God's truth. I don't care about what
I want. I've got to live for what God wants.
Whenever Julie and I get real real, like you know,
like you ever take a red eye plane and He's
just like.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
And people like you good, yeah, good.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
And if it comes to desperate measures, Julian and I
go to this chiropractor. We don't want to go, but
if it gets bad, we go to the chiropractor and
we're like, well, you gotta help us. This is a
chiropractor right there, like we got you gotta help us.
Out and then he gets us right. Every time I
read God's word, it gets me right. It aligns me
(41:50):
back to say, hey, remember this is not about you.
This is all about Him. Don't bring yours thinking thinking here.
I want you to think like you are blessed and
you are faith and you are loved by God. Come on,
I need you to live, not for your own success,
but I want you to live to build the.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Kingdom of God.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Every time I read the Bible, it aligns me back.
That's why I like to read the Bible in the
morning I wake up in my house. I need I
feel like God speaks loudest before my children are awake.
Once once my children are up, God's voice is silent.
I wake up in my house early, and I make
(42:29):
me a French press and I walk out. I will
do the same thing every morning. I walk out to
my sidewalk and I walk back in. Just getting outside
helps me get my day going. And I make me
a coffee, and I sit at my in my kitchen
counter and I sit there with my coffee in my Bible.
The same thing I learned in nineteen ninety nine is
(42:49):
the same thing that I do today. I don't have
another move. I don't have another option. All I have
is the b I bl e and the every day
I love. And I'm not reading it for y'all. I'm
reading it for me. This man of God needs to
get right, this parent needs to get right, this husband
needs to get right. And I read it. Oh, I've
been reading the same plan since nineteen ninety nine. And
(43:12):
I read it and I find it and you know what,
I've never read it and been like, oh I heard
that one. Oh that was last year. Oh that was
so nineteen ninety nine. No, every time I read it,
something jumps into my heart, something leaps into my spirit.
Because his word is alive, and his word is active
and is training me and is teaching me.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Come on, clap and give him a praise.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
Last thing today, write down the last one. God's word
points me straight to Jesus. Oh, I love this about
the Bible. John five, last verse. You study the scriptures
diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
These are the very.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Scriptures that testify about me.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
You refuse to come to me to have life.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
See the problem is most of us, we think that
it's about reading the Bible. Can look spiritual or we
can quote scripture. No, we read the Bible because we
want to know Jesus.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
We read the Bible because we want to know Christ.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
And he said to the religious people, the problem with
y'all is you think that you're so great because you
study the scriptures. But the scriptures are all about me,
and I want to just get our hearts right. As
we study God's word, we don't read it so we
can sound powerful. No knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
And the more I read the Bible, the more I
(44:33):
fall in love. Not with the Bible alone. I fall
in love with Jesus Christ, the son of the Living God.
Come on, the one that was crucified, the one that
died and rose again. Anybody loved Jesus today. So I'm
reading about Joseph, and Joseph and his deliverance he led
(44:58):
his brothers that sold him into a pit, and I'm
understanding that the greater deliverance and the greater forgiveness was
not just Joseph, it was Jesus. And my prayer is
that we would not fall in love with the Bible,
so we can fall in love with the law, but
(45:20):
we fall in love with God's word so we can
know Jesus. Paul the Apostle says, oh, that I might
know him, know him? How can you expect to get
to know Jesus without reading the book that's all about Jesus?
(45:42):
How can you expect to get cleaned with only one
swipe every single day? And I'm grateful that I got
that soap in nineteen ninety nine because every morning since
then try not to miss any appointments with my King.
(46:02):
I've been getting up and soaping because I notice how
quickly I can get dirty. It's kind of like my
kids when I say you need to take a bath.
I'm not dirty dead, I don't need a beth.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Son.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
You've passed dirty. You're disgusting, And a lot of us
are like, I'm good, I'm straight. Come get a word,
live my life, do my thing. When was the last
time you let God speak directly to you? It's the
(46:46):
last time you let God get you straight? When was
the last time God's word was a lamp unto your
feet and a light unto your path? I pray that
you wouldn't just fall in love with the scripture, but
you'd fall in love with the one that the scriptures
are all about.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
His name is Jesus. And I don't know when you're
gonna need God's word.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
I don't know when you're gonna go through a circumstance
when you're gonna need the Bible. But I'm believing that
you're gonna store it up for the right time. We
have a lady in our church this last week was
pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
In March, she let us know.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
That she has stage four cancer that the doctors were
saying was incurable. And she let our church know, and
she let our team know. And every Sunday i'd look down,
I'd see this lady who the doctors say are is
about to die. I'd see her worship better than everybody else.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
I'd see her dance more than anybody else.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
When I was preaching, she would amen better than about
ten people. And she kept just standing on God's word.
God's gonna heal me. God's gonna heal me. I don't
know how the doctors are saying this. I'm in pain,
she say, But I'm standing on God's word. I'm standing
on the verse that my God's a healer. Come on,
(48:10):
anybody believe today that by his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah fifty five. So shall my word be that goes
out from my mouth. It shall not return to me
empty or void, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
(48:30):
I want to show you a picture of my friend Fabiola.
This is at our all church prayer meeting. We're praying
over Fabiola a few weeks ago. We're praying that God
would touch her life. We're praying and we're standing on
God's word. See, when you go through hardship and you
go through trial, You're gonna have to stand on God's word.
Come on, you go through when you go through pain
and tragedy, You're not gonna be able to stand on
(48:52):
a on a tweet. You gotta be able to stand
on God's word. And this Tuesday, she zoomed into our
staff and she said, I want to let you know
and just got back from the doctors, and she held
up a certificate in the zoom and she said, the
doctors want to check on me today and they can't
find any cancer in my body. I've been completely and
(49:13):
totally healed by the grace of God. Come on clapping
like you believe that God is not a man that
he would lie. Come on, clap like you believe that
God is a promised giver and a promise keeper. Come on,
clip like you believe that God is not a man
that he would change his mind. Come on, Lets pray today, Jesus,
(49:36):
We thank you, We praise you today for your grace
and your favor.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
In our life.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
We pray that your word would run through our homes
and run through our lives and our marriages. And we
say out loud, we're gonna be like Jeremiah. We're gonna
find your words, and we're gonna eat them, and we're
gonna marinate on them, and they're gonna become the delight
of our hearts. We pray that as we study your word,
and as we memorize it and hide in our heart, Lord,
that we not just fall in love with the scriptures,
(50:04):
but we'd fall madly in love with you.
Speaker 1 (50:06):
Jesus.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
We have nothing whom have eye. On heaven and and earth,
and on earth. There's none that I desire beside thee.
So Lord, once again, become the premium. Lord, once again,
become the priority. Once again, become the first thing in
my life I'll seek first. The Kingdom of God and
your righteousness.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
Come on, lift a hand to heaven. Lord.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
I pray that we would not be lukewarm, we would
not be cold, but we would be hot. We'd be
zealous for the things of God. And I pray today
we'd open up our Bibles, and we're praying today.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
As we open up your word.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
Show us marvelous things from your word, Show us who
you are, show us how you move. We love you
today and we live for you. Oh, come on, elevation,
Come on, let's worship God. Come on, lift it up,
Come on lifting us. I called you no matter what
(51:01):
I facelie.
Speaker 1 (51:12):
I call you faithful. I just want to fit you.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
Thank you for your savation in your words.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
You pay the price good. I call you faithful and
Dodds Lord, thank.
Speaker 4 (51:29):
You, thank you, Oh, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
Your word is that the last egg. She's a word
from you changes every day. Your word, never fast, never
richards for.
Speaker 4 (51:57):
So I call you faithful, Indad just wanna thank you,
just sing that sing call.
Speaker 1 (52:05):
You faithful and doad just wanna.
Speaker 4 (52:08):
One more time seeing sing n cale you faithful and
Doad just wanna thank you. I call you faithful and
that just wanna thank you.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (52:26):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2 (52:45):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church.
Speaker 1 (52:50):
Thanks again for listening. God bless you
Host
Steven Furtick
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